Woody Allen said ‘If you don’t fail now and again, it’s a sign you are playing it safe’.

I remember a while back when working with YFC that Roy Crowne, the then National Director, said something like, ‘If you are not failing 15% of the time then you are playing it too safe’

I believe if you want to succeed, then you must also be willing to fail … and then try again.

I meet in a mentoring type role with a local youth worker. We met recently and spoke about things not working out properly in a youth session and this person used the term ‘failure’ in a negative way. None of us like to fail, this is true, but to fail does not mean you are a failure and it does not mean you were wrong.

If we are going to push the boundaries in our ministries, jobs, roles (whatever language does it for us) and be creative then I believe we can only really be pushing if we experience failure. We are really not that excellent that all our great ideas will work amazingly. That just does not happen.

But …. and this is a massive but! I am noticing more and more, although I suspect this has always been the case, that people are stifled and constrained in their dreams and realities. They don’t push boundaries because they are afraid of failure and, in particular, how others will view them post-failure.

But … if we are going to create, to meaningfully engage, to make a difference that matters, to be involved in God’s transformative work then, as we push to the edges of our comfort zone and what we understand we will fail. That’s only natural. If we don’t fail we are not pushing hard enough. I

f all we experience is success we are playing too safe.